Genome-Edited Crops for Food and Animal Feed

Singapore's Food Agency (SFA) uses a science-based, risk-proportionate framework for genome-edited (GEd) crops intended for food or animal feed. Genome editing can make precise DNA changes; some changes do not introduce foreign DNA and could have arisen through conventional breeding, while other GEd crops contain foreign DNA and are treated as equivalent to genetically modified organisms (GMOs) (SFA, Genome-Edited Crop Framework, last updated 13 July 2026, accessed 30 August 2026).

Crops without foreign DNA

SFA does not require a pre-market safety assessment for GEd crops equivalent to conventionally bred crops. Developers are nevertheless encouraged to notify SFA before sale by submitting the Information Checklist. SFA verifies that the necessary steps and checks were performed and, where it verifies that the crop contains no foreign DNA, records the completed notification in the list of GEd crops that completed Pathway A (SFA, Genome-Edited Crop Framework, last updated 13 July 2026, accessed 30 August 2026).

The notification route is not an automatic exemption for every gene-edited product. It depends on SFA's verification of the crop's equivalence to conventional breeding and concerns use as food or feed; developers should use the current SFA guidance and checklist for a product-specific determination (SFA, Guidance on Genome-Edited Crops, accessed 30 August 2026).

Crops with foreign DNA

GEd crops containing foreign DNA are crops that could not have been generated through conventional breeding under SFA's framework. SFA requires them to undergo the pre-market safety-assessment and approval process for GMOs before they can be used in food (SFA, Genome-Edited Crop Framework, last updated 13 July 2026, accessed 30 August 2026). This classification is about the crop and its regulatory pathway, not a claim that all genome-editing techniques produce the same regulatory result.

How to use the framework

The framework applies to imported and locally developed, cultivated or processed crops intended for food or animal feed. Developers should establish whether the final crop contains foreign DNA, follow the relevant notification or GMO-assessment route, and separately comply with food or feed import, licensing, safety and labelling requirements. SFA continues to monitor GM and GEd crops on the market; completing Pathway A is therefore not a blanket licence for unrelated crops, formulations or businesses (SFA, Genome-Edited Crop Framework, last updated 13 July 2026, accessed 30 August 2026).